The Garry Monk interview: Swansea City boss on facing Manchester United's Louis van Gaal in the Premier League

Garry Monk sits down with football correspondent Chris Wathan on the eve of the new season and reveals why he has no fear of what lies ahead

Garry Monk is about to lead Swansea City into his first full season as the club's manager

Q: Happy new season, Garry. Manchester United away to start with, under a new manager in Louis van Gaal. A good time to play them?

A: I guess the proof will come on Saturday. Look, the Premier League is full of big clubs with some of the best players in the world so, whatever the team, whether it is a good time or not depends on you and how you are on point with your game.

Q: It's strange to suggest it, but both you and van Gaal have things to prove this season.

A: I think I probably need to prove myself a bit more than he does after the career he’s had! He is in a different situation to me, at one of the biggest clubs in the world and at that level the importance of winning trophies is massive, so that’s a different type of pressure. With me, the need to prove myself comes from my experience being questioned.

Manchester United's points total of 64 last season was their lowest since 1990-91.

Q: Well, if you listen to a lot of the pundits a lot of them are saying Swansea are going to struggle this year, that you might go down. What do you make of that?

If things go as planned then great, if it doesn’t then the obvious is the obvious. But in terms of what’s been said, they don’t see what we do every day, they don’t see the work we put in. They are paid to make judgements but that’s all it is. We just concentrate on ourselves.

And anyway, we’ve been written off pretty much every year since I’ve been at the club so it makes no difference to us, it’s water off a duck’s back.

Some people want to make assumptions and that’s the way of the world. What do you want me to do?

I don’t have to attack them because it doesn’t really mean anything to me. All that matters to me is that I do the job properly.

Look at when I took over before the Cardiff game. Everyone said we were going to struggle, people asked what were they doing appointing a manager with no experience, someone who had been in the dressing room, blah, blah, blah, that we would be in serious trouble and how would I get them out of it.

We finished 12th. Now, of course, I’m not saying it was a perfect end of the season and there are a lot of improvements to come on top of that, but it’s an example of how you can prove people wrong when you’re written off.

Juan Mata scored six goals in 15 league appearances for United last season, compared to zero in 13 for Chelsea earlier in the campaign.

Premier League goals last season

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Q: The same things are being said, though. Does all that eat away at you?

A: If you spent your whole time listening to what people said you’d waste away, there’d be no point doing the job because you’d be too worried about it.

Yes, you have to care a little what people think because it’s important how you’re perceived, I understand that.

But when someone gives an opinion when they are not inside the group and who don’t understand what’s going into what we’re doing then it doesn’t mean anything.

We can all make judgements – I can make a judgement on Man Utd, but I don’t know what van Gaal is doing every day, how he’s working. That's the mistake people make, but it’s not a problem.

As long as the group I have are with me and understand what we’re trying to do and that I listen to them to get the best out of them, that’s fine.

This is the reverse of last season's opening fixture when Manchester United won 4-1 at the Liberty Stadium.

Q: So how do you a prepare for a season where most people think you’ll finish closer to the bottom than the top? To avoid relegation or to aim as high as you can?

A: I know it is a cliché, but I prepare one day at a time. Just worry about today.

When we trained today, all I wanted the players to do was worry about today and getting the best quality, effort and tempo. Let me worry about tomorrow. Because I think you get in dangerous territory when you set targets: if you set a target and achieve it early, they might relax.

If you set a target and they don’t reach it then they will feel more pressure. So we work on a day-to-day basis, focus on the game Saturday, give everything and then move on. That is how we will do it.

A: I can't remember, I don’t really think he set us a target in terms of points or anything like that.

He very much worked on a weekly basis too, making sure you got things right.

Look, I’m not naive, players will hear 40 points as the magic marker and think to themselves that’s what they need to get to. But I won’t be saying, ‘We need to do this or we need to do that.’

That is a mistake a lot of players and managers make where they focus on the outcome, but not on the process of how to get there. The focus is all on the process and hopefully the result will take care of itself.

Swansea's three previous matches on the opening weekend of Premier League season have produced 14 goals.

Q: The reason I ask is because there is a sense that Swansea are starting again in the Premier League, with the high turnover of players and the re-emergence of doubts.

A: Yeah, and that is fine. Of course, it is going to be a difficult season, it is never going to be easy in this league and it is only going to get harder as the bigger boys stretch away with the money situation.

But in terms of ourselves, the belief we have here is incredible and it will always be here with the way that we are and how we go about things.

The people of Swansea and the fans understand, they have educated themselves about how we are. People outside can talk, but on the inside we will be fine.

Q: You've been here long enough to understand the way the club goes about things. Did you have to have complete faith in ‘The Swansea Way’, especially because of the way you came into the job?

A: I don't think there would have been any other club in the league who could have done this.

But with the relationship I had they understood who I am and they thought I was the best person to take it on.

It is an opportunity of a lifetime and I realise how serious it is and what I need to do – but I know the Swansea philosophy better than anyone as I have been involved in it.

If I really thought I couldn’t handle it, I am an honest enough guy to know I wouldn’t have done it. I care about the club because I have spent 10 years building it up, so I am not going to be the one to try and take it back down or do anything to damage it.

If I had thought that at the point last season when they asked me I would have been honest enough to say it.

But I honestly felt at that point what I could do to help and this season, with those experiences, I can help the team to progress again.

Swansea have won exactly 11 games in each of their last two Premier League campaigns.

Q: So what would you say was the biggest lesson you learned from those experiences last year?

A: To trust yourself. Don’t ever doubt yourself.

You can correct things but if you are doing things with the right intentions then stick with it and understand that you don’t have to doubt yourself. Which I don’t.

There are other things I’ve learned: dealing with players, dealing with chairmen and budgets, but overall it’s don’t doubt yourself and trust what you are doing is right.

There will be ups-and-downs and you will lose games, but it’s the same for every manager in every club. That’s all it is.

Manchester United have never lost on the opening weekend at Old Trafford in the Premier League (W8 D3).

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